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Who says we are corrupt?

… and another story of corruption in cricket has surfaced. Should we be worried or surprised? I think not!

Think of a situation. If I tell you that I was on my way to ‘so and so’ place. But I was delayed because I was stopped by a traffic cop. Or if I tell you that I had to go to the office of district magistrate or to the PF office to get my long standing hard earned money back stuck in the heap of files, your obvious question mostly likely to be is- Kitna Diya?

Pardon me for using the names of certain departments affiliated to the Indian government. I meant no disregard to any person in particular. But even if I spoke of any other department, it wouldn’t matter much because the sentiment (about corruption) is pretty much the same every where. Besides, I haven’t stayed or even visited any other country than India and also in India, I have stayed at very few places. So people from the ‘other’ places that I haven’t visited can safely assume that my comment is not about them.

Anyway, as a matter of fact, we have all grown up as corrupts. Our lives started with If you pass your exams with XX%, I will give you YY arguments. But every one knew they were all futile arguments because the kids who indeed passed with XX% were going to do so any way. And most of the kids who didnt, got the YY despite abysmal shows in exams. Thank fully, my parents, particularly father, never engaged me in the game of XX and YY. He probably knew I was not fit to gain the XX% and wouldn’t be lured into slogging hard even for a YYYYY reward. But more than that he knew instigating the unfair reward system inside children’s minds was wrong. After all, as school going kids, weren’t we expected to study?

What we learnt as children, the unfair reward system, we carried it through to our professional lives. No wonder every ‘babu’ expects a cut for passing a file, work he is supposed to be doing any way. And why blame babus? We have, with an intention good or bad, deliberately greased hands of some unwilling honests for personal gains. Remember the watchmen of girls hostels? the lab attendants? the juniors who carried your roses?

We have all grown up corrupts. We have seen our parents grow old corrupt, even though unwillingly. Though the money the country has lost due to corruption only in last 2-3 years would have been sufficient to eradicate poverty and free us of income tax, we have not learnt any thing from mistakes. Kasab is still alive. A Raja is out of the jail. Congress is still in power. Anna Hazare’s lokpal is still a dream. We are still bribing the traffic police.